Claralyn Hill

Claralyn Martin Hill, M.S., J.D., has years of experience helping families in Utah County with estate planning, child protection, financial preparation, and other legal issues. She currently practices law in the areas of estate planning, adoptions, guardianship and probate.

She has an MS Degree in counseling psychology, a law degree, and is a trained mediator. She co-authored the Bogert, Oaks, Hansen and Hill legal text, Cases and Materials on the Law of Trusts, 6th ed. and has taught Trust Law at the J. Reuben Clark Law School. She has taught Family Law in the Marriage, Family and Human Development School at BYU and frequently teaches estate planning at conferences, personal finance classes, and in the community. She has emphasized financial responsibility and estate planning at BYU Education Week and Women’s Conferences. She does board trainings on the role and duties of nonprofit directors. She worked at the Utah State Court of Appeals, researching, applying and interpreting laws to individual cases.

Ms. Hill has considerable experience representing children as a guardian ad litem (attorney for children), helped found the Welcome Baby program in Utah County and was founding president of Women Lawyers of Utah County.

Ms. Hill has served on a variety of nonprofit boards in the community, including United Way of Utah County (Executive Committee; Founding Chair, Professional Advisors Committee; and Founding Co-Chair, Resource Development Committee), Utah Community Credit Union (Board Chair 2000-2002), Provo School Foundation Board, Utah County Friends of the Children’s Justice Center, and the Utah-Ouelessebougou Alliance. She has served as the President of the Utah Valley Estate Planning Council, as President of the Central Utah Chapter of Results (a bipartisan citizen group that lobbies for governmental solutions to hunger and poverty that emphasize self-sufficiency & best practices), and is a member of the Concord Coalition (a bipartisan citizen lobby for fiscal responsibility). Recently, she was the Founding President of Women in Philanthropy of Utah County.  She also served on the board of directors of Matrix Lifeline, an Indiana pro-life pregnancy counseling service, and as a volunteer for LDS Social Services.

Recent volunteer assignments in her church include Stake Relief Society Presidency, Institute Teacher, and nursery director. She and her husband, Ned Hill, have five grown children and 14, going on 15 grandchildren, her fondest delight.

For Immediate Release
February 26, 2008

Provo Attorney and Community Leader, Claralyn Hill,
Announces Candidacy for State Legislature

    
Announcing her candidacy for State House District 62 in Provo, Claralyn Hill described her neighbors in Utah County as “good and intelligent,” and deserving of quality representation. Hill stated that when her representative to the state house was chosen behind closed doors last year, she realized she must get more involved politically. “In a Democracy, every action we take has a political consequence.” So she decided to run as a Democrat, to force an election, and to give her neighbors “a better choice.”  “If we fail to be involved in the political process, we have given away our birthright, and the political process goes on without us, having an impact without our input,” she noted. Hill, a Provo attorney, has experience working at the Utah State Court of Appeals, as an estate planning attorney and as a guardian ad litem, an attorney for children.

Hill did not set out to become a politician, she said. Her goal was to work in the private and nonprofit sector as a catalyst for good. She recounted her service on the board of a pro-life pregnancy counseling service in Indiana as a turning point early in her life, leading her to community service.

She cited her service on the Executive Committee of the Board of United Way of Utah County, the Board of the Utah Community Credit Union and President of the Utah Valley Estate Planning Council, along with other community service, as work that has given her a feel for the needs of the community where she has lived for twenty years. She also helped start Welcome Baby program and Women in Philanthropy in Utah County.

Hill described herself as a one issue candidate: the community. She listed several issues that have arisen from her work in the community. Ethics in Government was at the top of her list. “We require our nonprofits and corporations to be good stewards of our funds. We expect no less of our government officers, who are stewards of our taxes and our freedoms.” She also promised that portable and affordable market-based health care would be a top priority for her. Speaking of the problem of substance abuse in the state, Hill said the government needs to put money into drug programs that follow best practices. “We don’t need to spend more money as much as we need to spend money more effectively,” she said.

Education and Transportation were also on her list. “We need to add transportation systems that maintain good air quality, require less gas, and get us where we’re going on time. We need flexible, inexpensive travel options,” she stated.

Hill describes herself as a nonpartisan moderate who would listen to all positions before coming to conclusions about what’s best. She asked for input from her constituents, promising to work hard and be effective. “I will do the job with the integrity and excellence with which I have done everything else in my life,” she concluded.

Claralyn Hill, 59, is married to Ned C. Hill. They are the parents of five grown children and fifteen grandchildren.

H. Reese Hansen, former Dean of the J. Reuben Clark Law School; Brent Wilson, UCCU Board; and Linda Magleby endorsed her candidacy, introduced her, and spoke of her achievements in the community.